sours the man and
brings shipwreck, where a little other congenial companionship might
have brought them through in safety."

They were interrupted by the sound of voices outside, and found that
Mr. Pym and his engineer, having encountered Major Carew returning
from Edwardstown, had persuaded him to show them the way to the
mission. Mr. and Mrs. Grenville greeted them with eager warmth, and,
the afternoon sun having sunk behind some trees, tea was spread
outside the huts, so that they could drink it while admiring the view.
Carew, though silent as ever, was less rigid, and Meryl saw how
insistently his eyes strayed back to the blue vista of kopjes. She
wondered what he thought of all day long, in his continuous silences,
and behind the quiet, forceful eyes. It was noticeable that Diana
seemed to have outgrown both her awe and chagrin towards him; and
though at first he proved very unbending, she eventually won something
like a repartee out of him. Ailsa watched them quietly from the
background, and waited hopefully, but in vain, to see his eyes stray
to Meryl. Indeed, he seemed almost to shun her, and she noted it with
regret. Was it possible that already his preference was given to
Diana, with her light raillery and ready laugh? Diana so pretty, so
attractive, so original, and yet to Ailsa's thinking, so far less
reliable and restful than Meryl. In the end, by a clever little
manoeuvre, she brought Carew and Meryl together.

"You are almost outvied, Major Carew," she told him lightly. "Miss Pym
likes my view already, as much, if not more, than you. I told her you
loved to sit and look at it, and that is exactly what she likes to
do."

Meryl smiled, but made no comment. Mere admiration seemed superfluous,
and Carew was grateful that she spared him raptures. So they sat quite
still, and instead of any constraint between them because of the
silence, there was a vague sense of restfulness and understanding.
Meryl spoke first, and then she made no allusion to his love of the
spot.

"I think you were right," she said simply. "Mrs. Grenville must be one
of Rhodesia's heroines."

"How do you specially mean it?"

"I mean it, because one _knows_ there must be times when the isolation
is almost unendurable, and when she must long for many of the things
of her old life, however much she declares otherwise."

"Yes, I think there are. She evidently had many friends, and she has
almost lost them all. It is difficult to keep